Make a Plate Rack
Datetime:2014-12-11 Hits:
Storage is important throughout the house, but it is perhaps the most essential in the kitchen where there are countless dishes, tools and appliances to keep organized. A plate rack installed in a kitchen cabinet is simply one way to help keep your kitchen organized. To build your own plate rack, you do not need to have the skills of a master carpenter; you simply need to be able to take accurate measurements and assemble the pieces of the rack using common sense.
Instructions
1
Select a kitchen cabinet in which to install your plate rack and remove the doors. In most cases, cabinet doors can be easily removed by simply unscrewing the hinges with a screwdriver.
2
Measure the interior of the cabinet using a measuring tape and record these measurements on a sheet of paper for future reference. Take the measurement of the plates you intend to store in the plate rack to be sure the cabinet you have chosen is adequate. To determine the height of the plate rack, simply add two inches to the diameter of the plate.
3
Use a jigsaw to cut three pieces of 1/2-by-1/2-inch hardwood. One of the pieces should be cut to the width of the cabinet interior, and two should be cut to the depth minus 1 1/2 inches.
4
Apply a bead of wood glue in a horizontal line across the back of the cabinet at the desired height of the plate rack and press the first piece of hardwood into the glue. Drive nails from a nail gun through the wood into the cabinet to secure it in place. Using the same procedure, glue and nail the the remaining two pieces of wood to the sides of the cabinet at the same height with the ends flush against the first piece you installed.
5
Cut a sheet of 1/2-inch plywood using the measurements for the interior width of the cabinet and the depth minus one inch. Slide the plywood into the cabinet so it rests flat on top of the three pieces of wood you just installed and secure it in place by driving nails from the nail gun down through the plywood into the hardwood supports.
6
Cut two 1-by-1-inch pieces of hardwood to the interior width of the cabinet and lay them flat in front of you. Measure and mark the center of each piece of wood in pencil, and then make additional marks every 1 1/2 inches along the length of the wood, moving out from the center.
7
Drill 3/4-inch-deep holes in both pieces of wood at every mark using a drill press with a 1/2-inch drill bit. Set the two pieces of wood aside.
8
Use a jigsaw to cut identical pieces of 1/2-inch round dowel to about a half inch less than the height at which you installed the piece of 1/2-inch plywood inside the cabinet. The number of dowels you cut should be equal to the number of holes you drilled into each of the 1-by-1-inch pieces of hardwood.
9
Apply a bead of wood glue to one end of each of the dowels and insert them into the holes in one of the pieces of 1-by-1-inch hardwood. Squeeze some glue onto the other end of every dowel and slide them into the matching holes on the second piece of hardwood. These rods will be positioned vertically inside the cabinet to serve as the face of the plate rack.
10
Squeeze some wood glue in a horizontal line across the front edge of the piece of plywood installed in the cabinet and along the floor of the cabinet about a half inch from the front edge.
11
Slide the plate rack face into place, pressing the back of the top piece of 1-by-1-inch hardwood into the glue on the plywood and the bottom of the lower piece of hardwood into the glue on the cabinet floor. Secure the plate rack face in place by driving nails from the nail gun through the front of the upper piece of hardwood into the plywood and through the sides of the cabinet into the edges of the lower piece of hardwood.
12
Fill the holes left in the cabinet after removing the cabinet door hinges as well as any other holes with wood filler and allow it to dry completely. Sand the surface of the wood filler smooth then paint or stain the plate rack to match the cabinet. After the cabinet has dried, test your plate rack by sliding the plates vertically into the slots between the round dowels.
